Because of the periodic flooding of low lying areas during hurricanes or severe rain storms or other uncontrolled releases of flooding water from dams, lakes or the like there is a recognized need for temporary flood protection devices which can seal off doorways, windows or other building openings to prevent the entry of water.
Typically the flooding is most frequently moderate with inundations of a few inches or feet. Conventional doors or windows are not designed to prevent water entry through the structures adjoining the openings, e.g., where a door meets the jambs or sill. Thus water, even just a few inches high, can enter the building and cause severe damage and mold. Such incidents frequently occur unexpectedly or with short notice and are of short durations and thus only require temporary protection. This has been attempted in the past by the use of sand bags placed at base of the building openings or surrounding the entire property. These solutions do not provide true seals, are expensive and installation is time consuming.
Improved sealing has been proposed in place of sand bags in the past. For example, the assignee of this application, Zero International, has offered a flood barrier Model 2070 which consists of aluminum channel brackets that are premounted on a door frame with their open sides facing each other. This allows a flat aluminum panel or shield having neoprene rubber seals on its side and bottom edges to be slid into the channels. The neoprene seals provide a water seal in the channels and against the door sill. While this system has been successful in use, it required either leaving the channels permanently in place, which may interfere with normal door use and which some may consider unsightly, or removal of the channels leaving visible mounting holes in the door jambs. In addition this system may not completely seal a doorway which is not “square”, i.e. when the jambs and sill are not precisely perpendicular to each other or where the channels are not mounted in proper alignment. In addition the permanently installed channels collect dirt and debris and thus require periodic maintenance.
Other attempts to provide flood barrier shields include the use of rigid panels having inflatable tubes mounted on the side and bottom edges of the panel. Such panels are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,443 to Demo and U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,945 to Koeniger. These units are installed in a doorway with their inflatable tubes deflated. Once positioned the tubes must be inflated, which requires time consuming operation of a pump. Such devices are heavy and do not allow for seal adjustment to accommodate and seal misaligned door jambs and sills. The inflated tubes will flatten at the corners of these barriers and thus will not properly seal those corners. In addition, during a storm operation of an electric air pump creates its own hazards.